an Augmented Reality Resource

Menu

News

Tune in today. Oculus TV has finally arrived on Oculus Go. Originally expected to launch last month, Oculus TV is exactly what the name suggests, a TV viewing app for VR. But Oculus TV hopes to go beyond just a giant screen to enjoy television programming in VR. Instead, Oculus wants to make Oculus TV

Facebook bills the Oculus Go headset as a standalone device that lets you enter VR no matter where you are. Now, starting today, that ease of access will include TV-quality content right from the comfort of a private virtual living room. Where Oculus Rooms is all about socializing the VR experience, Oculus TV is all about making you feel right at home.

The Oculus TV app, when launched, puts you on the couch of your own virtual space, just like the one shown in the image above. From here you can watch videos like they’re on TV (and enlarge the screen as shown below) to satisfy your entertainment cravings. In many ways it’s quite similar to the existing Oculus Video services, but there are some key differences.

For starters, Oculus TV includes both on-demand and live content separated into different channels you can surf like an actual TV. The content offerings are geared towards that style of viewing as well:

Facebook Video, which contains lots of original programming like Ball in the Family and even live MLB games,

Pluto TV, which includes an IGN portal, a Horror 24/7 channel, and even non-stop anime streaming,

As well as Showtime, Hulu, Netflix, and others that are already available in VR.

More streaming apps and broadcast partners are coming as well, such as ESPN, to hopefully continue expanding the offerings. Between Oculus TV, Rooms, Venues, and other existing Go apps, the headset is quickly becoming the best all-around VR entertainment destination. It can’t compete with the likes of Rift, Vive, and PSVR in terms of quality and sheer breadth of gaming content, but it’s turning into a great all-around option.

Although, given the focus on social features at the Go’s launch, it feels odd that this only appears to be a solo, isolated app. As far as I can tell, you can’t invite people into your Oculus TV living room and that’s a real bummer. It’s also nowhere near the breadth of content available even on other non-cable streaming services like PlayStation Vue. If Sony got their act together and offered that content in VR, that’d be huge.

If you’ve got a Go, download the Oculus TV app and let us know what you think down in the comments below!

Want to measure how Apple and Google are doing in the AR race? Well you could look to both company’s actual measuring apps, both called Measure.

Whereas Apple’s iteration of this augmented app will be coming with iOS12 (which is rumored to be launching this week), Google has beaten it to the punch by launching its version already. It’s free to download for any Android smartphone that supports Google’s ARCore platform.

Measure uses ARCore’s spatial features to measure real-world objects. By simply pointing your phone’s camera at the given item, you can get a reading of the distance from one corner to the other. You can get readings in imperial and metric units and take photos to bring back up when you’re at IKEA later on.

There’s an important little side-note in the app’s description, though: “Measurements taken within this app are estimates.” Ah.

More than likely this just shuns Google of any responsibility it might have if the app messes up, though we all know ARCore isn’t perfect (and neither is ARKit). We wouldn’t recommend relying on Measure for important tasks, but we’ll definitely be interested to see how accurate it really is.

Bethesda may have another Elder Scrolls VR game on the way, but it’s not done with its VR port of Skyrim, either.

Seven months on from release, the PSVR version of Skyrim is getting another update with some significant upgrades. For starters, Bethesda says patch 1.4.40.0.8 will improve the visual fidelity of the game, especially on PS4 Pro. There’s also a new ‘main menu experience’ which to us sounds like a retool of what was originally the base game’s menu on a virtual screen. We’ll need to go hands-on with the patch ourselves to tell, though.

Elsewhere, the game now has an increased height offset slider. More notably, though, there’s a lot of changes for the game’s PlayStation Move motion controller configuration. You’ll be able to move backwards using one of the controller’s X buttons when using direct movement and you can even swim realistically when in water. Our favorite update, though, is ‘Show Hands When Sheathed’, which should replace the models of the Move controllers you see when you don’t have weapons out.

Finally, there’s a new ‘Realistic Bow Aiming’ option, tweaks to map markers and a number of bugfixes. We don’t know if this patch is also coming to the PC VR version of Skyrim just yet, but some of these additions would definitely be appreciated there too.

Full patch notes:

Added a new main menu experience
Globally improved visual fidelity, particularly on PS4 Pro
Increased the maximum value for the height offset slider
Various bugfixes
Changes when using PS Move controllers:

In direct movement, changed the secondary X button to move the player backwards.
Added a new option, enabled by default, to “Show Hands When Sheathed”
Sheath/unsheath has been moved to hold secondary O.
Adjusted angle for spell targeting to be more comfortable
The existing swimming has been moved to a new option for “Realistic Swimming”. Swimming by default now uses Direct Movement style controls
Added option for HMD-relative direct movement instead of controller-relative direct movement.
Added a new option for “Realistic Bow Aiming” which uses both PS Move controllers to aim
Players can now point at map markers and get information on them in local map mode

One of the very first full VR games is finally making its way to a bunch of platforms this week.

Coatsink’s Esper will be launching on Sony’s PlayStation VR (PSVR) and the new Oculus Go on Friday. An HTC Vive launch is coming next week, too and it will also arrive on Go’s Chinese equivalent, the Xiaomi Mi, at a later date.

This is one of the oldest full VR games out there, originally launching on the first version of Oculus and Samsung’s Gear VR over three years ago now. It’s since come to the Oculus Rift and Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality headsets, but this marks Coatsink’s first VR release on consoles. It will cost $7.99.

Esper is a puzzle game in which the player has telepathic puzzles. They use their abilities to complete a series of challenges as part of an experimental testing program. Think dragging objects through glass mazes, weight-based placement puzzles, that sort of thing. It’s a little simple by today’s VR standards but still worth the price of admission.

The game spawned a sequel, Esper 2, and we’ve reached out to Coatsink to find out if that’s on its way to other platforms too.

VR brings classic board games like Catan to virtual life like never before, but developer Ninja Whale Studios is going one step further with its new title, Rascals.

Rascals is a simple board game in which players can momentarily embody the pieces they’re moving. As you navigate a stone block board using a dice, you can teleport into the body of one of your wooden piece and then use a weapon to attack your opponent’s units. Depending on the game mode, which includes a race to the goal, king of the hill or last man standing, you can either stun or outright kill enemies using a selection of weapons via cards you pick up. Check it out in the trailer below.

“There are still some unanswered questions as to what Rascals will be in the end, but it is already becoming clear that this is something rather special,” Ninja Whale said in a blog about the game. “We set out to make a different kind of board game, and have discovered a new type of action game.”

While other places wait their turn they can play with toys found on the side of the board.

It’s certainly an intriguing concept and it looks like it could be a lot of fun. We don’t yet know when the game will be out, nor exactly which headsets it will be available for.

More Ark Park is on the way which is a good thing considering there really wasn’t much Ark Park in the first place. Better yet, it’s going to be free. You can take a look at it in action right here.

The add-on, titled Pterosaur Hill, expands both the game’s exploration and combat modes with new environments and dinosaurs based around flight. You’ll be able to take a ride in a hot air balloon and fight off what must be a historically accurate dragon.

Look for the DLC to hit the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive next week, though developer Snail Games warns it might take a little longer on PSVR.